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A Sensitive Subject

The Dante Cunningham situation has not been an easy subject for the Timberwolves world. It’s certainly one that you feel as though you’re walking on eggshells around, carefully avoiding saying the wrong thing. Really, that’s also how I feel writing this, but it’s become a divisive issue amongst fans on whether or not he should be playing or that Cunningham should be booed.

Take Tuesday night. Cunningham entered the game playing in his second game following both of his arrests. Some argued that he shouldn’t be playing, but as William Bohl of A Wolf Among Wolves noted, the team doesn’t have much of a choice:

As far the team’s handling of the situation, their hands are more or less tied. The Collective Bargaining Agreement does not allow clubs to suspend players while legal issues are ongoing. Employees at will – that is, non-union employees – could be fired in this situation. NBA players are union members, and their right to continue to work through pending legal trouble was a right they negotiated for.

So, there’s that. But as Cunningham entered the game for the first time, his entrance went mostly unnoticed by the crowd. It wasn’t until later when a single fan booed Cunningham and drew attention from surrounding fans, players and coaches. Being there, I can tell you that the reaction wasn’t positive to his actions. And when I said he looked like a jackass on Twitter, I got killed for it by a couple people, but that’s life. If you think that not supporting booing is mutually exclusive to supporting domestic violence, then I can’t help you.

After all, we don’t know the entire story and the legal process is still being played out. If history tells us anything its that these cases can change and claims can be proven faulty. It’s important to remember that we don’t know what happened and shouldn’t jump to conclusions either way. These claims are serious, if true. There’s also children involved, which is never good, and human beings who are dealing with a troubling situation. Do you think that your booing helps anyone involved?

Personally, it always strikes a chord with me when these stories arise. As a child I grew up in several of these situations. I’ve seen and heard horrible things directed at my mother that I will not elaborate on in respect for my family, but I do not take these things lightly. It’s not a situation that any child should have to be in, but for me it taught me every way that you do not treat a woman. Like, ever. Living your life in fear and never knowing what kind of night your going to have is not enjoyable, so I feel for his family.

And if the investigation comes back that these claims are true, then I’ll reserve my judgement for that time. But this is not my business, nor yours or anyone but the individuals involved. If you’re going to think that I’m condoning anything that allegedly (Keyword: allegedly) happened, you’re way off. I’ve been vocal about Jordan Hill (Plead no-contest to choking his girlfriend), Chris Cook (plead guilty to the same) and others, so I’m not having that. To simply jump to conclusions here feels like not truly understanding what these accusations truly mean.

You look at pictures on Instagram or see his family at games and this is all the more heartbreaking. It just seems so out of character and jarring in contrast to this perception. But that’s the thing with perceptions: they can be faulty. We don’t actually know these people, and that’s something that people on both ends of the spectrums deal with. Either we humanize them too much or we aren’t able to empathize enough, and that’s just human nature. We really can’t help that initial response (whatever that may be) since it’s the way that we are wired. But I look at this family and read the reports and am still stunned.

We may not know what happened exactly on that night, but we can grasp that it’s a negative situation. Clearly, there is a family that is struggling and there could be serious repercussions depending on how the investigation plays out that could have a lasting impact on them. But, yeah, booing is definitely the beneficial thing to do here. People here need help and they may need to take some time away to make things right. This is so much more than about basketball.

Some have asked, “Well, why shouldn’t they be booing?” And I can’t tell anyone what to do, but keep coming back to the fact that we don’t actually know anything! Well, we know there’s an ongoing investigation, but have yet to confirmed the stories. I’m sure Cunningham expects some jeers and undoubtedly has his own internal conflict over the situation as well. There’s a process, and the team is reserving their own judgement until that process is completed, and we’ll ultimately learn what happened then. As for me, I know how I feel about those who abuse women, and will never condone it. And I know which way my view will slant depending on the outcome. At this point, we don’t really know what we’re judging. We think we know, but we really don’t. All we know is that there is a family that is dealing with some issues.

This is more than just taking it to an accused basketball player. This is about real people and real issues. As for the boos, they do nothing to help anyone.

About Derek James

In addition to writing for Howlin' T-Wolf, Derek James writes about basketball Hardwood Paroxysm in the ESPN TrueHoop Network and covers the Charlotte Bobcats for SB Nation’s Rufus on Fire. Andray Blatche and Isaiah Rider follow him on Twitter.